A look at the latest in local food, dining and drinking news

2015

01/08/16

This week, Sactown has the scoop on a new bar and grill opening in a historic building near Elk Grove, Shoki Ramen house reopening near Land Park, and a gourmet hot dog joint expanding to Natomas.
Hood Supply Company
This new bar and grill opened east of Elk Grove in the town of Hood on Dec. 11, the result of a renovation project by husband-and-wife team Mark and Vonne Matney. The restaurant, housed in a building that dates back to 1910, features a dimly-lit dining room and 20-seater horseshoe-shaped bar and a menu of thoughtful takes on classics by Patrick Hocking, formerly of River City Brewery Co. Try the smoked bacon wrapped filet mignon served with wild mushroom wine sauce and vegetables topped with bleu cheese; beer battered fish tacos with Southwest-style hummus, red pepper...

01/05/16

Dine Downtown is back for its 11th annual celebration of Sacramento’s growing restaurant scene. The 10-day event, held this year from Jan. 7-16, will feature 30 of downtown’s best restaurants offering three-course meals for just $35. A dollar from each ticket purchased will benefit the Food Literary Center, a local nonprofit dedicated to educating children about healthy eating.
This year’s event will showcase newcomers like downtown’s Brasserie Capitale (which will serve up classic French cuisine with onion soup, an entrée of salmon coq au vin and shiitake mushroom pasta, and crème brulée or chocolate mousse for dessert), K Street's Empress Tavern (which will offer a winter citrus salad, a main course selection of roast Cornish game...

12/31/15

Sacramento Beer Week will find a new home at Cal Expo for its opening Sacramento Brewers Showcase set to kick-off the 11-day celebration on Feb. 25.
Helmed by the Sacramento Area Brewers Guild, a new division of former host Northern California Brewers Guild, the upcoming seventh annual regional celebration is slated to run from Feb. 25 to March 6. Though festival details are still being ironed out, guild president and Rubicon Brewing Company owner Glynn Phillips predicts the move is promising of a bigger, better and bubblier week.
“We’re really looking forward to a bigger festival that’s easier to get to and has a little more space,” Phillips says. “We really had a great time partnering with the California Auto Museum, but we outgrew the space. Moving...

12/16/15

This week: Pushkin's gluten-free bakery expands and Formoli's hosts a "dinner and a movie" night. Plus, an Asian seafood restaurant comes to midtown, a tiki bar opens in downtown Sacramento, a Greek market arrives in Arden-Arcade, a vegetarian cafe opens in Folsom and a wine-focused restaurant replaces the former Bistro Michel space.
Formoli’s Bistro
This East Sacramento Italian restaurant is spreading good cheer with its first Family Night dinner-and-movie event on Monday, Dec. 21. The evening includes dinner, a screening of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (both the original and sequel), cookie decorating and ornament-making. While little ones munch on buttered noodles or cheese ravioli, grown-ups will receive a multicourse meal with dishes by...

12/15/15

Cesar Chavez Plaza will soon be home to a new restaurant from Tequila Museo Mayahuel owner and restaurateur Ernesto Delgado.
Delgado—who is also launching the forthcoming Mesa Mercado in Carmichael’s Milagro Centre—plans to bring La Cosecha, a casual Mexican restaurant with a full bar, a daily market and grab-and-go selections like salads and sandwiches, to Cesar Chavez Plaza by May 2016.
La Cosecha, meaning “the harvest” in Spanish, will occupy the building on the west side of the park, which, until December 2014, housed the casual lunchtime eatery Café Soleil. Delgado will operate the restaurant as an extension of Mayahuel, in partnership with the City of Sacramento, Downtown Sacramento Partnership and the city’s...

12/14/15

After temporarily shuttering in May due to a pipe explosion in its bar, downtown’s Blackbird Kitchen & Beer Gallery streamlined its interior, pared down its menu to tried-and-true favorites and reopened its doors Dec. 2.
According to executive chef and co-owner Carina Lampkin, the restaurant will be in a soft-opening stage with limited hours (see below for details) and a leaner menu until after the holidays. This is the establishment’s second reopening in the three years since it landed on the Sacramento dining scene. Lampkin affectionately terms this incarnation “Blackbird 3.0.”
“3.0 will be the perfect blend,” Lampkin says. “1.0 was way too fancy [and with] 2.0 we overcorrected.”
Balance is exactly what patrons will find in...

12/11/15

Oh, the weather outside is frightful, but sips of hot chocolate are so delightful. And now you have the perfect excuse (perhaps even a moral obligation?) to imbibe said sweet concoction on National Cocoa Day, this Sunday, Dec. 13. Here are six hot spots to find some of Sacramento's best hot chocolate.
Bloom Coffee & Tea
This Roseville coffee-and-tea outpost delivers a comforting mug brimming with ultra-sweet cocoa nectar with its Ultimate Hot Chocolate. The seasonal beverage, which is only offered in the month of December, is handcrafted in-house beginning with a blend of brown sugar syrup and whole chunks of dark chocolate that melt when steamed with whole milk, half-and-half and vanilla extract, and finished with a dash of sea salt on top. Offered in...

12/03/15

In this week's dose of local food news, a lunch and brunch restaurant opens in Land Park, a cook-it-yourself Korean joint opens in Rancho Cordova and a butcher shop opens in East Sacramento. Plus, two highly anticipated bars celebrate their openings.
B-Side
The brainchild of the owners of Shady Lady Saloon, the 1970s-inspired dive bar and lounge, B-Side, is set to burst onto downtown’s bar and music scene next week. Taking over the lot formerly held by The Monte Carlo Club since 1937, the bar will feature DJs spinning vinyl to set the tone for a low-key music-listening mood. The lounge, which will play everything from 70’s funk and soul to modern hits to home-owned records brought in by patrons, will fill the intimate space with tunes through a refurbished...

11/24/15

This Thursday, if the idea of sweating it out in the kitchen suddenly makes you feel a lot less grateful, put down the turkey baster and pick up the phone to make a reservation. Here's our list of nine places around town that are each rolling out a Thanksgiving feast worthy of its name.
The Firehouse
Indulge this holiday at this Old Sacramento favorite with a traditional four-course Thanksgiving meal created by executive chef Deneb Williams. Starting off with a trio of hors d’oeuvres (wild mushroom bread pudding, duck confit salad and pork belly with a wine-spiced, quince-roasted chili jam), diners can move on to light second courses including a potato-cauliflower bisque and a harvest green salad with goat’s milk feta and dried cranberries before tucking into the...

11/20/15

Your turkey may be gleaming and your mashed potatoes whipped to perfection, but if the pie isn’t your thing, here are five ways to get your holiday piece of one—from old-fashioned apple to classic pecan—from a few Sacramento baking pros.
Fat's Banana Cream Pie
The venerable local restaurant group makes its famed banana cream pie from scratch daily, using virtually the same recipe conceived by founder Frank Fat and his original chef in the 1940s. Loaded with freshly sliced bananas and rich custard inside a buttery, flaky crust and topped with a cloud of creamy, fluffy whipped cream, it is easy to see why the dessert is regarded as Fat’s—and possibly Sacramento’s—quintessential dessert.
Cost: Varies by location...

11/19/15

New Elk Grove lunchtime eatery Sage Mill is extending its hours in early December to incorporate a wine and beer program.
Since opening on Aug. 10, Sage Mill—founded by prominent chef Bret Bohlmann, who also owns the popular Boulevard Bistro—has been bringing creative midday meals to Old Town Elk Grove. Currently open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 11 a.m.-3 p.m., Bohlmann plans to stay open into the evening and serve 20 wines and four locally made beers on tap from Elk Grove’s Handcraft Brewing, pending the approval of a liquor license.
In the meantime, Bohlmann continues to serve his menu of fresh lunchtime fare using seasonal ingredients from local farmers, like olive oil from Wayne and Gretchen Gallup in Wilton and carrots and collard greens from...

11/18/15

Placer County is becoming a beer destination with three breweries set to open tasting rooms by next year.
Moonraker Brewing Co., Dueling Dogs Brewing Co. and Crooked Lane Brewing Co. will join the ranks of taprooms such as Goathouse Brewing Co., Knee Deep Brewing Co. and Loomis Basin Brewing Co. on the burgeoning ale trail in Placer County in 2016.
Home brewer and Auburn resident Dan Powell and his partner Dave Dwelle, along with newly hired head brewer Zack Frasher (formerly of Mraz Brewing Company, Frasher won first place at this year’s California State Fair home brewing contest for his session IPA), aim to have Moonraker Brewing Co. Brewery and Tasting Room open in January.
Powell, a solar developer with Pacific Power Renewables, is planning for the 3,500...

11/12/15

Restaurants from midtown to El Dorado Hills are spicing things up this fall with new lunch and brunch menus, bourbon-pairing dinners and more. Plus, a brand new farm-to-fork health food store sets its sights on a launch in Oak Park for early 2016.
Localis
On Oct. 20, this popular midtown destination for the farm-to-fork loving dinner crowd expanded its menu and hours to begin serving lunch. Eight dishes ranging from sandwiches and tacos to pasta are now available Tuesday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The menu, masterminded by executive chef Christopher Barnum, who wanted to put his own creative twist on beloved lunch classics, includes a pastrami sandwich with thin cut slices of house-seasoned smoked beef, cabbage and grainy mustard aioli piled high onto Localis’...

11/03/15

Once is clearly not enough: The second National Doughnut Day of the year falls on Nov. 5 (the first took place in June). From classic apple fritters at Marie's Donuts to "Silence of the Hams" doughnuts at the new Donut Madness, we’ve got the go-to list to celebrate.
Baker’s Donuts
As any fan of its Instagram page knows, this South Sacramento bakery rolls out a wide and inventive variety of indulgent creations, including doughnuts topped with blue mint icing and sprinkled with Oreos or covered in Fruity Pebbles. If you're looking for some cool comfort, pick up one of its signature glazed mounds filled with ice cream in flavors like Thai tea and taro, a sweet-tasting, purply tropical Asian plant. Mon.-Sat. 4 a.m.–8 p.m. and Sun. 4 a.m.–5...

10/29/15

This week: a new boba tea shop opens in Davis, a family-owned orchard in Courtland launches a hard pear-apple cider, a Hawaiian barbecue joint opens in Folsom, a popular Oregon brewery parks its mobile pub in midtown, and a poke-sushi burrito restaurant makes waves in Elk Grove.
Ben’s Huli Huli Chicken & Hawaiian Cafe
Almost two months after its soft opening on Labor Day, Ben’s Huli Huli Chicken & Hawaiian Cafe will host a grand opening party on Thursday, Oct. 29 from 4 to 6 p.m. at its Folsom location. Owner Kit Syn—a Sacramento native who named the eatery after his 7-year-old son—will give out samples of menu staples like the Huli Huli chicken (huli is Hawaiian for “turn,” and the chicken is cooked on a rotisserie over a mesquite...

10/23/15

Coming to a party near you: Pizza Supreme Being, a pop-up pizzeria that whips up pies using a mobile wood-fired oven.
Pizza Supreme Being—the brainchild by Ben Roberts, a line cook at Ella—has been popping up at events like September’s Tower Bridge dinner, where he contributed wood-fired calzone bites as an appetizer, since it made its debut at the one-year anniversary party of the midtown coffee shop The Mill in August.
“The exciting thing about pop ups is you never know when they’re going to happen and then if you miss it you’re like, ‘Oh, I’ll catch the next one,’ ” say Roberts, who uses social media to let followers know where to find the mobile pizzeria.
This Sunday, Oct. 25, Pizza Supreme Being will be...

10/22/15

Local chef Matthew Flores, who previously worked at Grange Restaurant & Bar, is launching a pop-up dinner company called Vagabond Dining Events with a six-course dinner in midtown on Nov. 2.
Flores, a Le Cordon Bleu graduate and former intern at Berkeley’s famed Chez Panisse, was inspired to start the business by his travels in Europe, Asia and the Caribbean over the past five years.
“In the Caribbean, I was inspired by flavor,” Flores says. “Everything was so zesty and spicy, you could almost taste the abundance of life in the food. It helped me round out my palate and gave me new ideas and new inspiration.”
Most recently, Flores has worked with Sylvanna Mislang of the vegan pop-up The Roaming Spoon where he gained experience and started...

10/16/15

Foodies and oenophiles now have a new reason to head for the foothills. Event company Fork ‘N Road Productions has just launched, offering wine (and beer) tours as well as culinary events that highlight Placer County’s agricultural bounty.
Fork 'N Road Productions, owned by Mary Towne and Jocelyn Maddux (who live in Rocklin and Auburn, respectively), presents customizable tours of breweries and wineries. Guests decide to tour a certain area of Placer County—the "Home, Home on the Range" tour, for example, takes visitors around Lincoln and Newcastle to places like PaZa winery and GoatHouse Brewing Co.—and get driven to three locations of their choice, where the tour guide will take the group behind the scenes of the establishments. (Tours run...

10/14/15

A food delivery service launches in Sacramento, a beloved British pub gets new owners, a midtown meatery shows lunchtime some love and cultural cuisine comes to downtown. We have this week’s nibbles of news in the local dining scene.
Caviar
San Francisco-based food delivery service Caviar has launched in Sacramento. Meals from 20 local restaurants—including Lotus Thai Cuisine, Ink Eats and Drinks, Pizza Rock, Osaka Sushi, Liquidology Bar, Oscar’s Very Mexican Food and Bombay Bar and Grill—can be brought to your door, typically within 60 minutes (there is an 18 percent service fee and a delivery charge ranging from $1.99 to $4.99 depending on location). Orders (and pre-orders for eateries like Burgess Brothers’ Barbeque & Burgers, Cafeteria 15L and...

10/12/15

From tutorials on how to brew the best cup at home to a three-course meal paired with coffee, and a java-centric barista competition, here are five ways to celebrate Sacramento’s caffeine craze during the second annual Specialty Coffee Week.
How Processing Methods Affect the Taste of Coffee
Oct. 12 Learn more about the coffee bean’s voyage from seed to cup with Chocolate Fish’s coffee roaster Mike Bosetti as he demonstrates three different ways in which coffee is processed after it’s picked – including the washed, natural and honey methods. Taste and see how these methods change the texture, aroma and flavor of the coffee with samples from the Cerro San Luis farm in Costa Rica (with the “washed” method, for...

10/07/15

A new wine bar opens in Woodland while a midtown wine bar gets outdoorsy, Ten22 toasts to a tasty anniversary, Blackbird Kitchen + Beer Gallery tumbles down the rabbit hole, and midtown and Folsom are about to get their just desserts.
Uvaggio​
Andrew Linden and Jennifer Schroeder will highlight Northern California vintages with Uvaggio, the first wine bar in Woodland, which will open its doors October 30th, with a grand opening from 4 p.m.-midnight that will include live music and a raffle to benefit charities that support victims of local fires. Small bites plates will also feature regional offerings like the Fromage Bianco with goat cheese from Sonoma’s Laura Chenel drizzled with local honey and Winters’ Mariani almonds...

10/02/15

OCT. 21 UPDATE: Just about two weeks after opening, Triple Double Sports Bar & Grill has closed. Owner Joseph Waltz tells Sactown that the recent departure of his business partners Trevor and Kristina Elliott, which affected the restaurant financially, was a factor.
Triple Double Sports Bar & Grill—which will sit less than a block away from the new Golden 1 Center—is opening to the public Monday, Oct. 5. According to co-owners Joseph Waltz and Emma Berry, the restaurant will host a soft opening Oct. 3 and 4 with limited seating for dinner service.
Nathan Hilderbrand—a native of New Orleans who has held stints in acclaimed restaurants there, including Commander's Palace and The Ruby Slipper Café —will serve as Triple Double’s...

10/01/15

Sacramento, get ready to grab your piece of the pie during the city's first ever pizza festival.
The concept for the celebration, which is called "Sliced" and will take place from Oct. 17-25, came from Federalist Public House & Beer Garden owner Marvin Maldonado and his wife Bridgette. “We were camping and just talking about all of the different and fabulous pizzas that our city’s offering up now,” Maldonado says. After partnering up with friend and fellow local restaurateur Andrea Lepore, co-founder of midtown pizzeria Hot Italian, they decided to host the event in October to coincide with National Pizza Month.
Their two eateries, as well as Masullo Pizza, Chicago Fire Pizza, Buffalo Pizza and Pizzeria Urbano will be participating, and more may...

09/29/15

The fifth annual Sacramento Vegan Chef Challenge returns creative plant-based dishes from local restaurants.
From Oct. 1 to 31, participating chefs will offer vegan appetizers, entrées and desserts. New this year will be the brunch and bar categories. “The chefs really go all out to create with their menus to create beautiful presentations and delicious foods,” says event coordinator Bethany Davis. “It increases awareness that plant-based foods can be just as good as any other food.”
Eighteen local restaurants and breweries are signed up to participate this year, including Tower Bridge Bistro, Capitol Garage, Thai Basil, Evan's Kitchen, The Porch and 58 Degrees. “It’s a lot of fun,” says Evan Elsberry, chef-owner of...

09/25/15

Oak Park resident Gabriel Aiello is on a mission to combine the benefits of natural foods with the flavor of sweet, fizzy soft drinks for Burly Beverages, his new collection of sodas made with local ingredients that is expected to launch in mid-November.
Aiello, who works the production line at Preservation & Co., is currently raising funds through an Indiegogo campaign that has 10 days remaining. Those funds will be used to support the initial start-up and production costs of manufacturing the sodas, soft drinks and shrubs in inventive flavor combinations like ginger molasses and black-plum elderberry, lemon jalapeño and coffee chicory. Burly Beverages will offer 16 flavors of syrups (meant to be combined with carbonated water), switchels and sodas like an...

09/24/15

From beer made with hops in Dixon to handmade ravioli in Grass Valley, we’ve got the lowdown on exciting new restaurant openings, brewery news and menu updates around the Sacramento region.
Brew News
This week Ruhstaller reintroduces Hop Sac, its wet-hopped ale, to local markets like Nugget, Corti Brothers and the Davis Co-op. Produced annually, Hop Sac features two versions this year—one made with hops from its farm in Dixon and the other created with hops from Utterback Farm in Sloughhouse. Although they use the same recipe, each of the smooth, refreshing beers is distinct: “The two farms are only 30 miles apart, but you can taste a considerable difference in the beer,” says Ruhstaller proprietor J.E. Paino. In other brew news, Track 7 has added two new...

09/21/15

Summer might be coming to an end, but thanks to Cornflower Creamery, which will open on Oct. 3 near 10th and L streets, there's a new reason to scream for ice cream.
Cornflower will specialize in serving ice cream flavors with in-season ingredients sourced from local farmers and producers. You can indulge your sweet tooth with one of 18 rotating flavors, including six vegan sorbet options like a berry lavender sorbet and mango sorbet. While many of the flavors will change based on what’s available seasonally, Cornflower will also create variations on the classic vanilla, chocolate, honey and caramel flavors, such as baklava and a salted caramel peanut brittle made with candy from Newcastle-based Better than Brittle.
Sacramento native Cynthia Broughton decided to launch...

09/17/15

UPDATE: El Dorado Hills' new Milestone Restaurant opened its doors Monday, Nov. 30, at 11 a.m. and will serve its menu of classic American fare like chicken pot pie and loaded baked potatoes until 9 p.m. in accordance with its weekday hours. On Friday and Saturday evenings, the eatery will stay open until 11 p.m., and co-owner Nick Dedier expects to begin serving brunch on Saturdays and Sundays at 9 a.m. in mid-December.
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Milestone Restaurant, the second endeavor from the owners of Aji Japanese Bistro, is expected to open this fall in the El Dorado Hills Town Center.
Nick Dedier (whose “hard-core fine dining” background includes stints as GM of Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc in Yountville and manager of San...

09/16/15

Today, the Sacramento Kings and JMA Ventures announced three new restaurants that will open in the newly named Downtown Commons -- formerly known as Downtown Plaza -- adjacent to the new Golden 1 Center arena.
The three restaurants are Pour Society, Sauced BBQ and Spirits and Punch Bowl Social.
Sacramento will be the third location for Pour Society, started by James Beard Award-winning chef Bradley Ogden. The other two locations are in Las Vegas and Houston. Called a modern interpretation of a classic American pub with craft beer and handcrafted cocktails, this 6,000 square-foot space is expected to open in late 2016.
Next up will be Sauced BBQ and Spirits, which will open in late 2016 at 7th and K streets. This will be the small chain's third location,...

09/15/15

The Sacramento Kings are living up their promise to tap into the region's farm-to-fork movement by announcing today that four of Sacramento's most prominent restaurateurs will offer their locally inspired fare inside the new Golden 1 Center, set to open in October, 2016.
Michael Tuohy, the executive chef of the Golden 1 Center and former executive chef of both Grange and LowBrau, tells Sactown that he has begun developing menus with Mai Pham of Star Ginger, Randall Selland of Selland Family Restaurants, Randy Paragary of the Paragary Restaurant Group, and Clay Nutting and Michael Hargis of midtown's wildly popular LowBrau Bierhall.
“[This is] an exciting community of talented food producers who believe in producing local...

09/10/15

A popular barbecue joint in Lincoln expands, a Southern restaurant in North Sacramento overhauls its menu, Tower Cafe gets creative with new craft cocktails, plus a build-your-own poke bowl spot and a craft brewery open in Davis.
Mama Kim Eats
This Southern-style restaurant in North Sacramento is about to reopen with a revamped menu and look. According to owner and executive chef Kim Scott, the new menu will offer more family-style dinners, such as a chicken and waffles platter (pictured above) with buttermilk fried chicken and a jalapeño-cheddar waffle drizzled with spiced honey or maple syrup, and small plates. Other new items will include the sweet potato soup with caramelized marshmallows or the hearty whiskey sarsaparilla skirt steak served with slaw and pomme frites....

09/03/15

The upcoming three-day weekend is the perfect time to take advantage of an extra day to indulge in the region’s best brunch offerings. We’ve rounded up some of our favorite Monday brunches taking place this Labor Day around the region.
Café Bernardo
All five Café Bernardo locations will be serving up their traditional brunch offerings on Labor Day, like the packed breakfast burrito, made with scrambled eggs, jack cheese, sour cream and salsa verde, as well as the amaretto brioche French toast with toasted almonds and maple syrup. Make sure to save time to peruse the dessert counter on your way out, where you can indulge your sweet tooth with offerings like root beer float cupcakes. All locations: 8 a.m.-1 p.m. (Pavilions location will serve brunch...

09/01/15

Oenophiles, get ready to be wined (and dined). San Francisco restaurateur John Marco is adding to downtown Sacramento’s transformation with the opening of a new wine bar at 4th and L, next to Foundation Restaurant & Bar and one block from the Golden 1 Center.
Whired Wine (which gets its name from the combination of “white” and “red”) is set to open its doors in mid-October, and will feature a rotating menu of local wines, along with six taps of regional beers and even sake. It will also serve small plates, cheese and charcuterie.
The modern industrial space—designed with wood, steel and concrete elements—will feature a large vintage photograph of the original storefront, back when it was a jewelry store during the 1960s, to honor...

08/28/15

Hot Italian is bringing the heat to Davis with a new restaurant opening in late fall in the Davis Commons, next to Mikuni and Whole Foods.
The Davis location of the popular pizza and panini bar, which is scheduled to open in late November or early December, will be slightly smaller than its midtown Sacramento and Emeryville locations at 1,500 square feet, with both indoor seating available for 50 and an outdoor patio that can seat up to 60. Patrons will recognize the minimalist black-and-white style and Italian design throughout the new space.
Though smaller in size, the pizzeria won’t be skimping on the traditional offerings it is known for. A limited menu will stay true to the brand with espresso drinks, gelato and pies like the Bellucci with house made fennel...

08/28/15

Nab a scoop of gelato or a glass of Track 7 IPA for a good cause at the 7th annual Harvest for Hunger event. Thurs., Sept. 10.
The lively street festival benefits the River City Food Bank, Sacramento’s oldest continuously serving food bank, whose volunteers have provided assistance to children, seniors, the homeless and the working poor for nearly five decades.
“The Harvest for Hunger honors volunteers that power River City Food Bank and helps us raise money as we move into the holiday season, which is our time of greatest need,” said Eileen Thomas, the food bank’s executive director.
The evening’s festivities include live entertainment from local country-pop musician Brian Bender and a beer and wine garden with selections from Bogle Winery, Two...

08/26/15

This week: Indian food comes to El Dorado Hills, a new pizza place will open in Folsom, a native daughter of the BJ’s Restaurant family plans to launch a local burger joint in Roseville and two dessert food trucks expand their sweet horizons.
Bawarchi Indian Cuisine
Specializing in southern Indian, northern Indian and Indo-Chinese cuisine, this new restaurant held a soft opening Aug. 21 in the El Dorado Hills Town Center. Owner Sunil Adusumilli runs Bawarchi with his friend Sreekanth Doddapaneni, who has three Bawarchi restaurants in the Bay Area, and says this new location will be the only Indian food establishment in El Dorado Hills. With a warm, colorful dining room, an outdoor patio and a bar that will soon be serving beer and wine once the restaurant...

08/24/15

Scroll down to the end of the story for the photo gallery.
After nearly three years of planning, design, construction and not just a little bit of anticipation around Sacramento, there is finally a new Empress in town.
Empress Tavern opens Sept. 3 on K Street, the latest offering from the group behind the acclaimed neighboring restaurant Mother. Its founding brain trust—led by chef/owner Mike Thiemann—is where the similarities between the restaurants end, though: Where Mother’s slight, bright, narrow café storefront serves up vegetarian delights upstairs, Empress repurposes 7,600 square feet below ground as a singular destination for meat lovers, beer geeks, oenophiles, cocktail mavens and every type of curious culturegoer in between.
Even before...

08/18/15

Shady Lady Saloon owners Garrett Van Vleck, Jason Boggs and Alex Origoni continue to put their stamp on the region’s restaurant and bar scene with three forthcoming projects: the Sail Inn Grotto & Bar in West Sacramento, and the highly anticipated Sacramento projects B-Side and Amaro.
The Sail Inn Grotto & Bar, located on Jefferson Boulevard in West Sacramento, will be the next incarnation of the former Sail Inn, which the group acquired in 2013 when it closed after almost 30 years. Slated for an early October opening, Van Vleck says the interior will “keep the nautical theme” with scrimshaw-style artwork, paintings of ships and vintage maps. Boggs says the cocktail menu will boast new concoctions, classic tiki drinks and “a lot more rum than Shady...

08/13/15

Formerly known as Midtown Cocktail Week, the newly named Sacramento Cocktail Week kicks off its 8th annual event with even more exciting alcohol-infused festivities, from pop-up pajama parties to gin history classes and bartender competitions from Aug. 17 to 22. Here are the rundowns on six of the spirited main events.
Liquor on the front, Poker in the rear
Aug. 17
Cocktail Week will kick off at R Street’s new bar-and-barbershop hangout, Bottle & Barlow, which will be transformed into a casino, resort and martini bar for the evening. At the resort and martini bar, mixologists will recreate trashy dive drinks made with 86 & Co. spirits like Aylesbury Duck vodka and Caña Brava rum, among others. From there, you can head into the...

08/12/15

For all the hopheads, ale aficionados, IPA enthusiasts and lager lovers out there, here are seven upcoming beer-centric events throughout the region. Cheers!
Dawson’s Beer Dinner
Aug. 14
Dawson’s executive chef Jason Poole will partner with Track 7 Brewing Co. for this beer-pairing banquet. Poole’s dinner menu will feature a first course of smoked Arctic char with Manila clams and a chorizo ciabatta, which will be paired with the citrusy Left Eye Right Eye IPA; a grilled flat iron steak for the second course, nestled on duck fat fingerling confit and Tuscan kale, which will be served with the slightly bitter Daylight Amber; and a dessert of beehive cake—a layered praline, custard and sponge cake made with the Bee Line Blonde (which will also be poured)...

08/12/15

As the weather heats up in the Sacramento region, so is its dining scene. Here's the scoop on new brunch and dessert menus, Temple Coffee's newest location, and more.
Blackbird Kitchen + Beer Gallery
The popular New American restaurant—which temporarily closed down in late May due to flooding—will soon be back in the downtown food scene with interior and exterior upgrades. Major changes include what co-owner and executive chef Carina Lampkin calls a “bigger, badder" 30-foot-long redwood bar that will run the length of the downstairs tavern (as opposed to two smaller bars in the space). Also in the works is a semipermanent parklet in front of Blackbird, which was conceived prior to the flood. While the building is being renovated, Lampkin is refining...

08/10/15

August is National Sandwich Month, which gives us all a great excuse to break out of our lunchtime routine and try something new. Behold six local creations that range from refined to over-the-top. Griddled mac and cheese sandwich with bacon, anyone?
Carnitas sandwich at Selland’s Market-Café
​At Selland’s Market-Café, in both the East Sacramento and El Dorado Hills locations, the kitchen is spicing up traditional lunch fare with a Mexican-style carnitas sandwich, which was introduced in 2012 when the El Dorado Hills location opened, and has since become a customer favorite at both sites. The creation starts with pork that is slow-roasted overnight for 14 hours. Then a heaping 4-ounce serving is piled onto a lightly...

08/07/15

It's another hot summer in Sacramento. Chill out with sweet gourmet iced treats (champagne-and-pear popsicles, anyone?) from these four local dessert artisans.
DavePops
​Dave Feldpausch of Sacramento, who owns DavePops, calls the method of making his signature popsicles “duBlé,” a word he made up to describe how the treats retain their creamy texture without the use of any dairy products (hint: Feldpausch freezed the ingredients twice). His low-calorie, vegan-friendly creations have become popular at local farmers’ markets, where he rolls out his cart filled with popsicles whose flavors range from the classic strawberry made with real fruit to the addicting mint chocolate chip with mini vegan chocolate chips to the new Cherry Garsoya, a delicious...

08/04/15

The ball is rolling on a downtown sports bar and restaurant that formerly housed the Zokku nightclub.
Permitting and construction setbacks have pushed back Triple Double's launch from a predicted June opening, according to co-owner Joseph Waltz. The owners' new goal is to open the first-floor bar and restaurant—which will sit less than a block away from the new Golden 1 Center—on Sept. 1, pending installation of an ADA-accessible lift at the entrance. The upstairs portion of the restaurant, which includes space for private banquets and another bar, will be reserved for private parties at first until the staff settles in.
Waltz and his team are also hard at work on the interior. Already up on the walls are colorful abstract murals, which were designed by James...

07/29/15

We’ve got the lowdown on new restaurant openings from Woodland to Roseville and one East Sacramento Mexican eatery that revamped its menu and interior after closing from a fire last year. Plus, a cool new cheese shop debuts in Nevada City and a "big sexy" new brewery plans to open in South Sacramento.
Big Sexy Brewing Company
After their lease fell through in Auburn last June, James Thompson and Mark Taylor, owners of Big Sexy Brewing Company, took a year to find a place that would suit their needs for a local taproom. Now they are aiming for an October opening in a South Sacramento warehouse, which will provide them with 8,400 square feet of brewing and taproom space, outdoor seating and a hop garden. While initial plans for the brewery's Auburn taproom called...

07/19/15

Tickets for the third annual Farm-to-Fork Gala dinner, which will return to the Tower Bridge on Sept. 27, go on sale at 9 a.m. on Monday, July 20.
Oliver Ridgeway, executive chef of Grange Restaurant & Bar, and Ravin Patel, executive chef of Selland Family Restaurants (which includes Ella, The Kitchen and Selland’s Market-Cafe), will head a team of 30 area chefs to create a multicourse menu with ingredients culled from local farms. Serving 740 guests, this annual culinary feat culminates 18 days of festivities honoring Sacramento’s agricultural legacy.
“I’m really excited about it,” Ridgeway says. “The city of Sacramento is working so hard toward its identity these days, and I think a big part of its identity is food. The fact that a...

07/16/15

Midtown’s Sutter District is hosting its second annual Sacratomato Week from July 20-25. This year, the six-day event will culminate in a festival at Sutter’s Fort with a tomato tasting garden, lawn games and samplings of tomato dishes from some of Sacramento’s top chefs.
Throughout Sacratomato Week, participating bars and restaurants will offer special tomato-themed dishes and drinks, like a tomato-strawberry-basil tequila infusion with muddled cherry tomatoes, simple syrup and sparkling water at Centro Cocina Mexicana, an Angus burger with house-made tomato relish and thick heirloom tomato slices at Cafe Bernardo, and a chilled gold tomato soup with Del Rio Botanical cucumbers and cherry tomatoes at the newly opened Paragary’s Bar and Oven.
“We love...

07/13/15

The team behind K Street’s popular eatery Mother is welcoming a new player into its celebrated kitchen.
Anthony Scuderi, an alumnus of the East Coast restaurant group owned by famed Iron Chef Jose Garces, joined the vegetarian hot spot this month as its new head chef. He takes over for Mother’s co-founding chefs Mike Thiemann and Matt Masera, the latter of whom will lead the kitchen at the neighboring Empress Tavern when it opens this summer inside the Crest Theatre.
Scuderi arrived in Sacramento 18 months ago, roughly around the time Mother first opened its doors. He had previously served as chef at Garces’ restaurants Tinto and Village Whiskey (in Philadelphia) and Amada (in Atlantic City), relocating to the capital city with his wife—a Sacramento native...

07/08/15

July is National Ice Cream month and from downtown to the foothills, we’ve got the scoop on some irresistible, local frozen desserts.
Devine Gelateria
Whipping thick, creamy folds of artisanal gelato into a frothy mixture might sound like dessert sacrilege. But, trust us: It’s all worth it for Devine’s gelato milkshakes. The midtown desserterie combines whole milk with five scoops of your favorite gelato (you can never go wrong with owner Elizabeth McCleary’s salted caramel flavor) or beloved combos: the Espresso Chip (made with espresso syrup that uses Temple coffee) blended with the Dark Rich Chocolate makes a creamier version of a mocha Frappuccino. With about half of the air content found in ice cream, gelato shakes churn out bolder, deeper...

07/07/15

UPDATE: RailBridge Cellars & Company will open at 8 a.m. on Monday, Feb. 8.
The main menu will feature entrées like a pork osso bucco served with grits and pan-seared salmon with pappardelle pasta, as well as ample sandwich choices like the The Levine, with pastrami from the celebrated Southern California-based Brent’s Deli on double-baked rye bread. The breakfast menu (which will be served until 11 a.m.) will include items like steel-cut oatmeal and a croissant breakfast sandwich with bacon and Gruyere cheese. And after 2 p.m. small plates like beer-battered fennel with citrus cilantro aioli or rock shrimp street tacos will become available.
An extensive two-page wine list will present wines offered by the glass, half bottle and bottle, and the beer list...

06/26/15

After five years, Magpie Cafe will bid farewell to the R Street corridor this Sunday, June 28, and will reopen at its eagerly anticipated new location in downtown’s 16 Powerhouse building (near 16th and P streets) on Monday, July 5. Its current space will continue to operate under a new label, Nido by Magpie.
“It’s a pretty big risk to pull up our stakes and walk away from [the R Street block],” says Ed Roehr, who owns Magpie with his partner, Janel Inouye. “Magpie had a pretty good thing going on R Street. We are going to forgo that and see if we can do it better.”
Helping the team do just that will be a new kitchen custom-built for a restaurant (comprising equipment like a fryer, a salamander and a flat-top grill) and a full bar. Roehr...

06/24/15

Sacramento's dining world is abuzz with openings, like a new ice cream sandwich parlor at Arden Fair mall and a new coffee bar in East Sacramento, and updates, like a celebrated chef joining the Fat's restaurant group and an expansion of a popular Rocklin eatery.
Bombolone Cafe
This new ice cream sandwich parlor is aiming for a July 1 opening at Arden Fair mall. Located on the first floor near the southwest entrance next to Starbucks and Jamba Juice, the desserterie will offer ice cream-filled donuts, ice cream sandwich cookies and other desserts like bread pudding. Bombolone Cafe, which is owned by Paramjit Singh and Aman Ullah (the latter of whom also owns Curry Corner, an Indian-Pakistani restaurant in Natomas), will allow guests to build their own confectionary...

06/22/15

Who says you can’t go home again? Land Park-raised Bay Area restaurateur Tom Schnetz is returning to his hometown to open a craft cocktail bar called The Cinders in North Highlands with his childhood best friend, real estate executive Jess Tochterman.
“Tom’s places in Oakland are ground zero for the craft cocktail movement,” Tochterman, senior VP of Intero Sacramento, says about his business partner, who has made a name for himself with his art deco craft cocktail hot spots Flora and Fauna across the street from Oakland’s Fox Theater. (Schnetz also owns neighboring restaurant Xolo, Telegraph Avenue’s hip Mexican eatery Dona Tomas, and the bustling Berkeley taqueria Tacubaya.) The Cinders will be using that expertise in its cocktail menu, and...

06/19/15

From a harvest festival where kids can play farmer to a gourmet dinner under the stars prepared by top local chefs, here are six reasons to visit our region’s bountiful farms this season.
Dinner on the Farm
June 27 & Sept. 20 These memorable evenings at the Center for Land-Based Learning in Winters feature wine and beer from breweries like Ruhstaller or Sierra Nevada and a chef-prepared multicourse dinner. Neighboring Putah Creek Cafe is leading the Sept. 20 dinner, while Michael Tuohy, executive chef of the new Golden 1 Center, is leading the June 27 dinner, along with world-renowned charcuterer François Vecchio. Chef Tuohy plans to prepare dishes like an assorted lettuce salad with tomatoes, beets, and walnuts from Winters-based Sierra Orchards, and a Berkshire...

06/18/15

As International Sushi Day rolls around on Thursday, June 18, we’ve packed together 10 of the region’s most popular rolls—from a fiery seafood sensation to a sweet roll made with Rice Krispies Treats—for you to sink your teeth (and chopsticks) into.
Akebono
If South Land Park is your home base, you might be familiar with the Ichiro roll from this local sushi hot spot. The popular customer favorite is stuffed with delicate pieces of seared tuna (torched briefly on an open flame) and creamy slices of fresh avocado. The roll is then topped with raw salmon (which arrives fresh to the restaurant daily), bits of green onion and a combination of the restaurant’s special sauces, including Sriracha and a house-made spicy mayonnaise. $9.50. 4960 Freeport Blvd....

06/10/15

About a Bite Bakery
This local bakery, which specializes in mini confections, plans to open its first storefront on K Street at the end of June, replacing the former Blush Ultra Lounge nightclub next to Tequila Museo Mayahuel. About a Bite will share a 2600-square-foot space with the Downtown & Vine wine bar and will serve up signature treats like cherry chocolate streusel bars and fudgy mocha crunch bites (pictured below). Owner Jennifer Kaye launched her bakery in 2011 and has operated out of an industrial space in Gold River for the past few years. At the new downtown shop, she plans to serve Chocolate Fish coffee and Devine Gelateria ice cream, both of which will also be incorporated into her confections. Think gelato cookie sandwiches or bonbons infused with Chocolate Fish...

06/04/15

D'oh! National Doughnut Day is about to roll around again on Friday, June 5. In case you're unprepared, we’ve baked up a list of six sweet spots around town where you can celebrate this hole-y holiday.
Baker's Donuts
Cool off this summer with ice cream-stuffed doughnuts from this South Sacramento bakery, which fills its sugar-glazed doughnuts with exotic flavors like pandam (green coconut) and ube (purple yam). Plus, try other sweet creations like Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup-filled cronuts. To celebrate National Doughnut Day, Baker’s Donuts will roll out specials this Friday, including 90-cent doughnuts, peanut butter and jelly-filled doughnuts and a doughnut burger, which sandwiches sweet and tangy Asian-styled pulled pork between two freshly baked maple...

05/27/15

From peaches to tacos, we’ve got the best of the fests for the region’s summertime food celebrations. Here are seven great ways to partake in the abundance of the Golden State this season.
Castroville Artichoke Food & Wine Festival
May 30-31 The artichoke—which is almost exclusively grown in California and was ordained as the state veggie in 2013 by Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom—will get the star treatment at this 56th annual festival in Castroville. In addition to sampling various preparations (fried, steamed, grilled and roasted) and infused items (ravioli, burritos, ice cream and cupcakes), you can also take part in contests like the artichoke-eating competition and the Marilyn Monroe look-alike contest (the iconic blonde bombshell was crowned the first...

05/26/15

Strap on your cowboy boots and get set to giddy-up across the causeway for the Street Food Rodeo in Davis on Friday, May 29.
The outdoor food fest, which will be held at Westlake Plaza, will the chance for some gustatory globe-trotting via 10 local food trucks, including gourmet Spanish rice dishes from Addy’s Paella, Greek cuisine from Hefty Gyros, grilled Asian street fare from Slightly Skewed, and Belgian waffles from VolksWaffle. Guests can also try all-American eats from barbeque truck Smokers Wild BBQ or cool off with Hawaiian shaved ice from Local Kine Shave Ice.
“Davis is full of foodies who crave more culinary options than what our downtown restaurant scene has to offer,” says Melanie Gentles, co-editor-in-chief of The Davis Dirt events calendar,...

05/21/15

Here's the latest scoop on Sacramento's food scene news, including a wine bar coming to Oak Park, a crave-worthy dessert menu at a midtown hot spot and three new local restaurants at the airport.
Block Butcher Bar
Sweet meets salty at this midtown charcuterie hot spot, which launched its first dessert menu in March. The two-item menu, created by the restaurant's culinary director Allyson Harvie, features a no-bake cheesecake served in a mason jar with pistachio strudel and cream cheese filling topped with house-made seasonal preserves like strawberry for spring, and apricots and plums for summer. For a gourmet take on a nostalgic childhood treat, try the s’mores dessert consisting of chocolate pudding topped with a peanut butter caramel drizzle, torched marshmallow...

05/14/15

Bon appetit, Sacramento: After months of anticipation, downtown’s new French restaurant Brasserie Capitale is finally open at 1201 K St.
The eatery, founded by the family behind the midtown mainstay Aïoli Bodega Español, began serving lunch and dinner to the public this week. Featuring fresh, modern takes on both the cuisine and design of the French motherland, the restaurant’s elegance—from the kitchen to bar to table—reflects the perfectionism of owner Aziz Bellarbi-Salah and chef Scott McNamara.
“We’re doing traditional French, straight up and down,” says Bellarbi-Salah, 30. “There’s a little bit of making it our own, but it’s a lot about making it right.”
McNamara strikes that balance in the...

05/11/15

Update: The Folsom location of Mikuni is now slated to open mid- to late-October 2016 at East Bidwell Street off Highway 50. Helming the kitchen will be chef Tim Chang, who has been part of the restaurant group's Elk Grove location for the past six years. No grand opening festivities are planned, but Mikuni will mark its 30th anniversary next May and a party celebrating that milestone birthday will highlight the Folsom outpost.
Read more details below and stay tuned to Sactownmag.com for future updates.
The popular, locally based Japanese cuisine and sushi restaurant chain Mikuni announced today that it plans to open a new location in Folsom in early 2016.
The location will occupy a 5,000-square-foot space in Folsom at East Bidwell Street just off of...

05/08/15

Come on, Sacramento, get hoppy: On Saturday, May 16, Miller Park in Upper Land Park will host the first-ever West Coast Invitational: A Craft Brewing Experience festival.
Fifty breweries will be on hand offering tastes of their beer, including local favorites like Jackrabbit, Oak Park Brewing, Track 7 and newcomer Sactown Union, whose taproom will open soon in East Sacramento. “We are definitely at a golden age of brewing in Sacramento,” says event coordinator Matson Breakey.
Other well-known West Coast breweries, including Mendocino County's Anderson Valley Brewing Company, the Bay Area's 21st Amendment Brewery and San Diego's Ballast Point Brewing Company, will be featured at the event. Plus, cider lovers won't be left out of the action with...

05/06/15

We’ve got the lowdown on what’s heating up Sacramento’s food scene this month, including a new midtown taproom, refillable wines and a new, healthy food truck.
Zocalo
Midtown and Roseville’s contemporary Mexican hotspot will be launching a revamped bar program on May 18, for the first time in years. Owner Ernesto Jimenez traveled to Mexico to meet four different distilleries, including one of Mexico’s oldest, Siete Leguas. His goal? To perfect what the house does best: margaritas. About 10 to 15 new tequilas will be introduced to the menu, including George Clooney’s Casamigos and rare vintage Tequila Ocho Añejo. Also expect a new selection of wines and local craft beers on rotation, as well as tequila tastings with existing monthly...

05/04/15

UPDATE: Davis-based baker Jenn Cheng has launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for a storefront that would highlight her tasty s'mores-meets-cookie concoction, the S'mores Bar, which she debuted last April. Cheng hopes to raise $75,000 by Feb. 26 to lease a spot in either Davis or Sacramento where she can bake and sell her original S'mores Bar (made with cookie, chocolate chunks, marshmallows and pretzels) as well as her new flavors: S'mOreos (which features an added Oreo cookie layer and crumbled Oreos on top) and the Churro (sugar-and-cinnamon-rolled cookie dough topped with caramel and a cinnamon-sugar fried tortilla). Cheng also has plans to gradually add items to the menu (like cookies and...

04/29/15

Sacramento's top coffeehouses are getting ready to roast and boast at the second annual Sacramento Public Latte Art Tournament (SPLAT), which kicks off on April 30 at Chocolate Fish Coffee Roasters.
The city’s best baristas will get to show off their latte-making skills every last Thursday of the month for the next six months. During each round, a different local coffee roaster will host the tournament and competitors earn points toward their grand total, culminating in a final round this September.
“[These events] are to show the greater Sacramento area that we have some incredible baristas here and people who really do care about their craft,” says Chocolate Fish co-owner Edie Baker. “Hopefully this will get people to realize that it takes...

04/28/15

With many of the farmers' markets in the Sacramento region kicking off in May, we’ve rounded up some of our favorites, both ongoing and seasonal. Here's a fresh list of where to shop till you chop in and around the Farm-to-Fork Capital of America.
Old Town Auburn's Farmers' Market
The foothills are known for their fresh produce and irresistible citrus products, such as mandarin marmalade from Newcastle’s Twin Peaks Orchards, and you can find all of that and more at Old Town Auburn’s farmers’ market. Plus, shop for Alpaca rugs, socks and yarn from Auburn’s Fair Winds Alpacas, and Japanese maple trees and pottery from High Hand Nursery in Loomis. Saturdays year-round. 8 a.m.-noon. Old Town Courthouse Parking Lot. Auburn-Folsom Rd. at...

04/22/15

UPDATE: Claimstake Brewing, formerly named Argonaut Brewing Co., is set to open in Rancho Cordova in early February, according to co-owner Brian Palmer. The brewery reached out to its Facebook followers to help narrow down the possibilities for its new name after its original one ran into trademark issues, and the owners eventually settled on Claimstake in keeping with the company’s Gold Rush theme. They plan to begin brewing three beers this week: Named in honor of people who have helped them conceive and build the brewery, they include Mikey Likes It, a chocolate oatmeal stout, and Thank You Barry Much, a pale ale. Read more about the brewery's launch below in our original 2015 story and visit Claimstake’s Facebook page for soft-opening updates.
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Come...

04/14/15

The Sacramento Public Library announced today that The Third Plate, by the James Beard Award-winning chef Dan Barber, has been chosen for its One Book program this year.
The project, as the name suggests, prompts conversation about a specific topic each year as various groups throughout the country organize events revolving around one book of their choosing. For 2015, the Sacramento Public Library—which has participated in the movement since 2012—has partnered with the California Food Literacy Center and the Sacramento Convention & Visitors Bureau to focus on Sacramento’s standing as the country’s farm-to-fork capital by encouraging city dwellers to read and discuss The Third Plate.
In The Third Plate, Barber—co-owner and executive chef of the New...

04/07/15

The celebrated Karen’s Bakery & Cafe in Folsom is throwing a sweet bash to celebrate its 15th birthday on Saturday, April 11.
“It’s going to be a good ol’ fashioned birthday party with balloons, streamers, hats, noisemakers—all that kind of decoration and mayhem,” says chef-owner Karen Holmes.
In light of the bakery’s victory at the Retail Bakers of America's 2015 National Cake Decorating Competition—where head pastry chef Emily Pille was crowned the grand champion with a pair of wedding and sculpted "boot" cakes—future cake bosses will get to show off their own skills during the event’s team cake decorating contest, which will start at noon. (To participate, notify the bakery by Thursday, April 9.)...

04/07/15

Spring just got a little sweeter in Old Sacramento.
The historic district will host its first Chocolate Week from May 4-10, complete with chocolate tastings, tours and cooking demonstrations.
On May 4, Fat City Bar & Café will host a "Choc-la-trivia" night to test participants’ knowledge of local chocolate history for a chance to win prizes. On May 6, the restaurant Ten22 will present an event that will pair beer with chocolate and feature four beer tastings and house-made chocolate desserts, like Chico-based High Water Brewing’s Campfire Stout paired with cocoa bread pudding filled with caramel and dark chocolate.
If dancing and dining is more your speed, get into the groove on May 7 when Tango by the River hosts tango demonstrations...

04/03/15

Designed to recall Mexico’s urban markets, Mesa Mercado—a concept developed by Ernesto Delgado, owner of downtown’s Tequila Museo Mayahuel (a restaurant, bar and tequila museum)—is one of the restaurants planned for the new Milagro Centre in Carmichael planned to open this fall.
Envisioned as Carmichael’s culinary hub, the Milagro Centre will be an open-air, public marketplace, which will fill about 50,000 square feet of space with a variety of specialty food vendors ranging from casual to fine dining. It will also feature a central courtyard and fireplace.
Joining Mesa Mercado at the Milagro Centre will be River City Brewing Co., Insight Coffee Roasters, The Rind cheese bar, Ghiotto Artisan Gelato and The Patriot (to be opened by Broderick...

04/02/15

UPDATE: On Thursday, July 2, the organizers and participants of the first-ever Fantasy Food Truck Showdown will use the penultimate round of its competition to raise money for the three victims of a stabbing attack in midtown Sacramento last week. (The authorities have classified the assault as a hate crime based on homophobic slurs used by the perpetrator.) Rocklin’s Out of Bounds Brewing Company, which is hosting the event, and each competing food truck will contribute a portion of the evening’s proceeds to the victims’ medical bills (two of the three individuals don’t have health insurance), as will event organizers Scott Scoville and Ted Rozalski of Beers in Sac, who will donate 20 percent of ticket sales to the cause (a $25 pass gets a small plate from each...

03/25/15

As the construction of midtown’s 16 Powerhouse residential and retail complex nears completion after two years, the next several weeks will usher in a slew of business openings along the 16th Street corridor.
Insight Coffee Roasters, Magpie Café, Sun & Soil Juice Company and Orchid Thai are building out their respective ground-floor spaces in the new building, which overlooks Fremont Park at the intersection of 16th and P streets. The projected April and May openings follow delayed debuts previously scheduled for December and January.
“Anytime there is construction, things are really not going to stick to a schedule,” says Matt Gale, Insight Coffee’s communications director. “But we’re pretty darn ready.”
At this...

03/24/15

Planning to gather the family and friends for Easter brunch? From croque Suzannes to French toast pies, we've got nine egg-cellent ways to celebrate the holiday on April 5.
Fabian’s Italian Bistro
Savor an Italian-inspired brunch at this Fair Oaks bistro serving such decadent dishes as an egg frittata with spaghetti or an organic mushroom medley and sage derby cheese, as well as more American-inflected dishes such as the bistro’s N.Y. dip with shaved Angus New York strip steak, scrambled eggs and horseradish au jus or a crab and avocado Benedict. Prices vary. 9 a.m.-2:15 p.m. Fabian’s Italian Bistro. 11755 Fair Oaks Blvd. Fair Oaks. 536-9891. fabiansitalianbistro.com
The Firehouse
For a refined Easter brunch experience, head to The Firehouse in Old...

03/23/15

UPDATE: Randy Paragary hopes to reopen his flagship restaurant, Paragary's, on Friday, June 12, starting with dinner service. He plans to begin offering lunch and weekend brunch soon thereafter. Sample menu items listed at a pre-opening party included croque monsieur, Dungeness crab beignets, vanilla custard French toast, and the return of Paragary's famous hand-cut rosemary pappardelle and wood-fired pizzas.
The highly anticipated reopening of Paragary Restaurant Group’s flagship location at 28th and N streets in midtown is set for this spring.
The restaurant, which Randy Paragary first opened in 1983, has been remodeled with modern touches by Sacramento-based Ellis Architects and PRG’s co-owner Stacy Paragary and will feature a spacious patio with olive...

03/20/15

The Easter bunny isn’t the only rabbit hopping into Sacramento next month.
On April 3 and 4, West Sacramento’s Jackrabbit Brewing Company is opening the doors to its newly expanded brewery and public taproom located in a business park area near Industrial Blvd.
The opening weekend celebration will run April 3 from 5 to 9 p.m. and April 4 from noon to 9 p.m. The taproom grand opening will feature fare by the Elk Grove-based food truck, the Culinerdy Cruzer.
Jackrabbit announced last summer it was expanding its existing production space from 1,500 to about 5,000 square feet with a public taproom that would be open on the weekends, a front patio and bar area. Brewing operations have expanded to include more fermenters, tanks and kegs, and Jackrabbit will have 10 beers...

03/19/15

Shabu Extreme, a new Japanese fondue restaurant (named for a fondue style called shabu-shabu, which translates to English as "swish-swish") with Taiwanese influences, is dipping into Davis with a soft opening on March 23.
The three young owners of Shabu Extreme—recent UC Davis graduates Jack Yang and Christine Yeh, and Yeh’s brother Kevin—all grew up in Taiwan and created a menu to reflect the same Japanese influences apparent in the food back home. Although several shabu restaurants exist in the Sacramento area, they’ve been known to be strictly either Japanese or Chinese. Noticing an absence of a cultural median, the three jumped on the opportunity to introduce a new concept to the college town....

03/18/15

Auburn’s long-loved breakfast darling, Awful Annie’s, will soon take its leave of Old Town and move to a new home a few miles up the road.
Annie’s owners (and husband-and-wife team) Don and Jai Baker are in the process of uprooting the morning meal haven from its current spot on Sacramento Street—where it has stood since 1975—to a building just off Interstate 80 at 13460 Lincoln Way. The new location previously housed the locally iconic restaurant Lou La Bonte’s, which closed in November after nearly 70 years.
According to Jai, the building is undergoing renovation, and she and Don are aiming to fully relocate Awful Annie’s for an early summer opening. The Lincoln Way site will continue to serve the same menu (which includes the signature...

03/16/15

It’s perennially beer season in Sacramento, and dozens of breweries from around the world are about to get into the act. They'll join a bevy of local breweries at the fourth annual Capitol City International BrewFest on Saturday, March 21.
The brewery showcase invites beer lovers to taste unlimited sips of refreshing, rare and offbeat suds, from an arctic berry ale from Iceland’s Einstok Beer Company to a “cocoa mole” brew concocted by the globally-renowned New Belgium Brewing in Fort Collins, Colo. Local craft beermakers, including Sacramento-based Hoppy Brewing Company and Auburn’s Knee Deep Brewing, are also among the participating breweries that will serve their drinks in the festival’s 5-ounce souvenir glasses.
For the first time...

03/12/15

April 1 update: Shown above is a new rendering for the Triple Double by Sacramento-based architectural firm Lionakis.
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Plans are in place for a downtown building at 419 J Street—formerly the home of Zokku nightclub—to be redesigned and welcome a new sports bar and restaurant, which is scheduled to open in June.
Playing off of the basketball theme—with downtown’s Entertainment and Sports Complex in the works less than a block away on J Street—the name for the location is Triple Double. The venue is set to occupy two stories and include a large restaurant, a bar filled with flat screen TVs and areas for private banquets.
Curtis Smith, CEO of Silver Lining Properties, purchased the three-story, 12,825-square-foot building last...

03/10/15

Known for partnering with local farmers and thinking outside the dish, Grange Restaurant & Bar will hold a Grange Barrel Dinner—the first event of its Arts & Crafts Dinner Series—on March 19.
Curated to showcase new artisans and craftspeople in Sacramento’s dining scene, the Arts & Crafts Dinner Series will be led by Grange’s executive chef Oliver Ridgeway, with each experience differing from flavors to guests.
“I want to highlight different things I’m passionate about.” Ridgeway says. “It could be a really unique winery, a unique dairy, or it could be a certain person or individual that I want to work with and do a paired dinner with. We have so many different ideas right now.”
The series’ inaugural dinner...

03/06/15

UPDATE: After construction and permitting setbacks, the Italian deli and gelateria Eatuscany Caffé at 1801 L Street will soft open this Thursday, Aug. 13, at 11 a.m. We got a sneak peek today: Shelves are stacked to the ceiling with imported coffee and wine, and the bright interior includes handwritten menus, cases of waffle cones and baskets of fresh bread. In addition to 12 gelato flavors using ingredients like pistachio, chocolate, lemon and watermelon, Eatuscany will offer panini, antipasti, salads and pasta dishes like pesto lasagna, and a dessert case full of traditional cake and pastry offerings like tiramisu, cannoli and sfogliatelle. A grand opening celebration is slated for sometime in October, but until then Eatuscany will operate under the following hours: Tuesdays to...

03/06/15

Soup's on for a good cause at the 12th annual Empty Bowls event that will warm up the Sacramento Convention Center on March 9 and 10.
The two-day fundraiser, benefiting and hosted by the River City Food Bank, invites guests to try soup from local restaurants, including Lucca (which will be serving a creamy roasted mushroom soup made out of white button mushrooms and shiitake mushroom stock, and topped with dried porcini mushrooms), Scott’s Seafood (which will offer a spicy crab bisque consisting of shredded rock crab, brandy and a house-made marinara) and others like Mother, Zocalo, Grange, Cafe Bernardo and Evan’s Kitchen.
Soups will be served in handcrafted bowls designed by local artists, such as Wildfire Fusions artisan Jacque Mooney and Chadwick Pottery...

03/05/15

The midtown bike shop and food delivery service Edible Pedal will debut its new location in West Sacramento with a soft opening this Saturday, March 7.
Beginning at 10 a.m., the bike hub will offer coffee by local favorite Insight Coffee Roasters and eats from the West Sacramento sandwich shop Green Thumb Deli.
Located in the city’s former Town Hall building at the intersections of 2nd and 3rd streets, the latest Edible Pedal is an intimate, 850-square-foot variation on its larger counterpart across the Sacramento River. The smaller space, however, offers a library and lounge area to go along with its aforementioned coffee and bike services.
“This is going to be more of a boutique-style store,” says co-owner Brian Asch. “We definitely want to keep...

03/04/15

Have your cake and eat it too while giving to charity at the fourth annual Great Cake Walk, sweetening up the Sacramento State Alumni Center on March 12.
The cake and cupcake extravaganza invites eight local bakeries to offer guests samples of their creations. Selections this year include a variety of mini cupcakes by Above & Beyond cakes (including a fuzzy navel cake paired with vanilla butter and a strawberry pink champagne cake topped with chocolate mousse), as well as a fudge chocolate cheesecake by Rick’s Dessert Diner, swirled with fudge drippings and filled with chocolate ganache.
The event—which will also include an auction featuring sparkly bling by Sharif Jewelers and a private evening of stargazing through a NASA telescope (hosted by Sacramento City...

03/04/15

Fans of movies and food—which is to say, virtually everyone—can partake in some delicious viewing at the fourth annual Sacramento Food Film Festival, which will pair food-related films with culinary experiences at locations throughout the city from March 19-29.
The festival launches Mar. 19 with an all-star chef lineup at midtown’s Goldfield Trading Post, where Michael Thiemann (Mother, Empress Tavern), Jay Veregge (Ten22), and James Beard Award-winning food blogger Hank Shaw will be among those preparing meals at a screening of food-focused short films.
“We have a good range [of films and chefs]," says Amber Stott, the founding executive director of the California Food Literacy Center, which benefits from the week’s events....

03/02/15

Mother fans, your wait is over. Thanks to the live-streaming “line cam” that the popular downtown vegetarian restaurant broadcasts on its website, patrons can now monitor the busy lunch and dinner rushes from their laptops before heading over.
Ryan Donahue, co-owner of Mother, says the idea came from Pizzeria Delfina in San Francisco, which in 2013 installed a Dropcam focused on its chalkboard waiting list. Tat’s Delicatessen in Seattle and the New York-based cult burger chain Shake Shack have also installed line cams in recent years.
“A lot of restaurants maintain cameras; not a lot of them put them up for the public to see,” Donahue says, adding that Mother’s camera doubles as security for the restaurant. “We get so many calls for...

02/26/15

Get ready to live high on the hog on March 7 at Pig Day, Davis Farmers Market's annual tribute to pigs, local farmers, food and agriculture—the only event of its kind in California.
"We’re celebrating different parts of agriculture, [rather] than just focusing on fruits and vegetables,” says Davis Farmers Market executive director Randii MacNear. “We get people to taste things that they might not have had, like maple bacon ice cream.”
Attendees at the event, which will be held at Davis' Central Park, will also be able to swine and dine on virtually any other pig-related delight that they can imagine, like the Hotdogger’s pigs-in-a-blanket, piggy pops (sweet French bread on a stick shaped like a pig's face) from Upper Crust...

02/20/15

Sacramento Beer Week, which began as a tribute to Sacramento’s beer scene by nine brewers in 2010, has grown this year into an 11-day beer bacchanal that will feature over 600 beer tastings, dinners, fairs, festivals and other related events starting Thursday, Feb. 26. Sip on these 10 highlights of this year’s SBW, featuring a food-truck throwdown, dessert pairings and more.
Sacramento Brewers Showcase
Feb. 26 Beer Week opens with more than 35 breweries (all from within 45 miles of Sacramento) bringing their best beers to this tasting event at California Auto Museum. Beer enthusiasts can get the first sip of beers made exclusively for the showcase while checking out over 150 classic cars on display, as well as look forward to an expanded outdoor beer garden and food...

02/17/15

In honor of National Banana Cream Pie Day, Fat’s Family of Restaurants will hold its first-ever banana cream pie eating contest featuring its famed sweet treat.
The event, which is free to attend and will take place at Fat City Bar and Café in Old Sacramento, will begin at 9 a.m. on Monday, March 2. Competitors—including local VIPs like Mark S. Allen of Good Day Sacramento—will have about a minute and a half to try and get their just desserts with their hands tied behind their backs. (Spectators can grab a slice of heaven themselves; samples of Fat's legendary pie will be provided.)
Mike “Mike on the Mic” Osborn of the Sacramento River Cats will emcee the challenge, and three judges, including a representative of Chiquita banana, will...

02/13/15

The new Bistro 103 in Old Auburn, which will officially open to the public on Feb. 20, will inch apart its doors this Sunday for a reservation-only soft opening that will last through next Thursday,
It’s the first restaurant endeavor for owners and husband-and-wife team Patty and John Dooley, who wanted to create a casual neighborhood bistro that honored Auburn’s history and offered a seasonally fresh menu.
“[John] and I love to eat out and we tend to go places where we know the owners and we know the servers—you know it’s like going home,” Patty says. “When [this spot came on the market], I thought this could be that kind of place.”
Bistro 103’s building previously housed a Japanese market, and the new restaurant will pay...

02/12/15

Get patriotic this Presidents’ Day with one of the most American of traditions—brunch. Here are five restaurants around the region where you can relax during a Monday brunch over the holiday weekend.
Awful Annie’s
This family-run eatery has two locations (in Auburn and Lincoln), so there is no reason to miss out on one of the awesome omelets or the delicious benedicts like the house specialty, the California Crab Cake Benedict: two perfectly poached eggs on top of crab cakes with either sliced tomato or toasted English muffins swimming in lemony hollandaise sauce and garnished with fresh avocado. Brunch served from 8 a.m.-3 p.m. 160 Sacramento St. Auburn. 530-888-9857. 7:30 am.–3 p.m. 490 Lincoln Blvd. 645-9766. awfulannies.com
Cafeteria 15L
Treat...

02/04/15

The Roaming Spoon—a vegan pop-up dining experience that hosts special culinary occasions at galleries, coffee shops and other destinations around the city—is shaking up the Sacramento food scene this month with four events.
Since launching in November 2013, chef Sylvanna Mislang—a veteran of the well-regarded kitchens at Mikuni and Blackbird—has crafted a series of intimate dinners for up to 12 guests at sites like the former Exhibit S gallery at Downtown Plaza and the midtown coffee hot spot The Mill. Mislang’s meals often showcase unusual, artful pairings of local and seasonal ingredients such as the kiwi tartare, a bold-flavored combination of kiwi, capers, shallots, balsamic vinegar and Maldon salt flakes.
“I like to play with textures and...

02/03/15

Wine—and whiskey—will be flowing again on Del Paso Boulevard with the opening of Cask & Barrel. The restaurant—helmed by chef Gabriel Glasier, formerly of Maranello and Slocum House, and his fiancée, pastry chef Kristel Flores—will launch on Feb. 12 in the space previously occupied by Enotria, which closed as a restaurant last January.
“We’re trying to tap into the concept of ‘What is America? What is our cuisine and what is our food?’ It’s not just hamburgers and hot dogs,” Glasier says.
With that in mind, as a nod to the quintessentially American culinary tradition of barbecue, Glasier devotes much of his menu to slow-smoked meats—either half- or one-pound servings of pork shoulder, brisket, chicken or...

02/03/15

UPDATE: To celebrate the grand opening of its Natomas location this Saturday, Feb. 21, Track 7 will release a blood orange IPA entitled Blood Transfusion, which uses the zest from local blood oranges in the brewing process. Also, Krush Burger food truck will roll up to the brewery from 12- 3 p.m., and The Pizza Company will dish out slices from 3-7 p.m. Get there in time for the ribbon cutting at 2 p.m., and get your hands on some raffle tickets from 12-5 p.m. for a chance to win prizes such as a private party at Track 7's original Curtis Park location and a beer-making experience with Track 7’s brewmasters. Grand opening celebration: noon-9 p.m. 826 Professor Ln. 520-4677. track7brewing.com
Curtis Park’s thriving craft beer mecca Track 7 Brewing Co. is...

01/30/15

Starting this week, a new food truck is bringing a unique specialty to the roads around Sacramento: Brunch.
The Brunch Boys truck arrived in town on Jan. 30, debuting a healthy, fresh—and mobile—approach to the area’s brunch culture. The truck was co-founded by chef Charlie Cardona and his business partner Kevin Hardekopf, who set out to share their mutual passion for food on the road.
“There are still many people who equate food from a truck with junk food, and that's all they want,” Cardona says. “But the perception is changing, and we are aiming to provide restaurant-quality [brunch].”
Dish options range from the chunky carrot soup (a medley of corn, carrots, Italian salami, kale and crème fraîche), to the...

01/23/15

SusieCakes, the celebrated bakery that originated as a local sweet spot in Los Angeles, will arrive this weekend in Sacramento with a brand-new shop at the Pavilions Shopping Center.
A week of treats and specials will commence Saturday with a grand opening party from 1 to 4 p.m. featuring free desserts, face painting, a balloon artist, kids coloring contest, DJ, a raffle to win free cake for a year, and an Instagram booth for selfies and other souvenir photos.
The celebration continues through the end of the month with a Cupcake Happy Hour on Monday, Jan. 26 (featuring buy-one-get-one-free deals on cupcakes) between 4:00-6:00 p.m., followed by After-School Snack Day on Jan. 28 (offering free mini-cupcakes for kids 10 and under, with purchase) and culminating in Celebrate Your...